Where art and farm col­lide

The cu­ri­ous mix of farm­ing, ru­ral and re­gional life and the world of art holds pride of place at the Wim­mera Machin­ery Field Days.

While count­less ex­am­ples of farm machin­ery, prod­ucts, pro­duce and all things agribusi­ness shout out from the var­i­ous out­door and in­door sites, peo­ple can’t help but be drawn to a special part of the event – the Wim­mera Machin­ery Field Days Vic­to­rian Farm Sculp­ture Com­pe­ti­tion ex­hi­bi­tion.

The com­pe­ti­tion, start­ing from hum­ble ori­gins, has de­vel­oped into a full-blown and rich artis­tic ex­trav­a­ganza, prompt­ing the ru­ral com­mu­nity to delve into the cu­ri­ous and sub­jec­tive world of art.

Old parts, long-for­got­ten steel, fenc­ing wire and ev­ery other con­ceiv­able piece of farm­land flot­sam and jet­sam get twisted, welded, painted, ma­nip­u­lated and moulded into pieces of art that can’t help but at­tract the at­ten­tion of field days pa­trons.

The com­pe­ti­tion has grown from be­ing an idea and a cu­rios­ity to se­ri­ous busi­ness.

The sculp­ture com­pe­ti­tion at the field days has be­come a state ti­tle with a first prize of $2500 in an over­all prize pool of $6000 up for grabs, thanks to ACE Ra­dio be­ing on board as ma­jor spon­sor.

Not only that, but an­nual win­ners of the Vic­to­rian Farm Sculp­ture Com­pe­ti­tion have the op­por­tu­nity to en­ter their sculp­ture in Na­tional Farm Sculp­ture awards at the Spirit of the Land Fes­ti­val in Lock­hart, New South Wales, each year, where first prize is $10,000.

While the prod­ucts of prac­ti­cal farm-prod­uct en­gi­neer­ing glis­ten un­der the flut­ter of pro­mo­tion busi­ness flags nearby, the cre­ations of peo­ple ex­ploit­ing in­ner artis­tic whims com­mand just as much at­ten­tion – such is the cul­tural mix of the field days.

The Weekly Ad­ver­tiser and ra­dio sta­tions 3WM and MIXX FM gen­eral man­ager Scott Gram­bau said ACE Ra­dio was proud to con­tinue its long as­so­ci­a­tion in sup­port­ing the Vic­to­rian Farm Sculp­ture Com­pe­ti­tion at the field days.

“The field days is about more than just do­ing busi­ness deals – it’s about peo­ple and cul­ture and that is what drives us,” he said.

Field days man­ager Mur­ray Wil­son said ACE Ra­dio had been a key sup­porter since 2006 and it was pleas­ing to see its long-term as­so­ci­a­tion con­tinue and strengthen.

The Vic­to­rian Farm Sculp­ture Com­pe­ti­tion tra­di­tion­ally draws about 50 en­tries from across the re­gion and in­ter­state.